


The Red Sky

by UncleSam



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Avengers and SHIELD will come in later, Gen, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Natasha steals baby Skye to raise her in the states, No pairings decided yet, Parent!Natasha
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-23
Updated: 2015-04-29
Packaged: 2018-03-25 10:51:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3807601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UncleSam/pseuds/UncleSam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha was forcibly taken from her parents as a toddler and grew up as a deadly assassin for the infamous KGB. She is sent on a mission to a peaceful and quaint Chinese village to retrieve an object she discovers to be a baby, and must decide if she wants to aid the KGB in destroying another innocent child's life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Watching Avengers and Agents of SHIELD right after each other does no good to me.  
> This fic is also available on FFNET

Lights of every color in the visible spectrum flashed across the starry and dark evening sky, every star dancing with the slow movement of the aurora. In the distance the snow-capped peaks of a long mountain range glistened blue, and to the opposite direction the ocean reflected purple. Mixing together with the green summer, the colors made a truly stunning picture. It was natural beauty at an unprecedented level.

The lights were impossible considering China's far away distance to the poles of the earth, and Natalia Alianovna Romanova wondered if it was just her mind that was playing tricks on her. In time it would be revealed that weird nature behavior would be least strange thing in this warm summer evening.

She squinted; in amongst the far trees and bushes, she could see a window emitting light. A little Chinese village of sorts, old wooden houses, small dirt roads, it definitely was not modern in any sense at all.

Natalia moved closer and lay stomach down on a large boulder covered in moss to stay hidden. Through the window she saw two children, a brother and a sister, happily playing together with their father. A bit away, the mother was cooking food, and flashing her family a big smile. A simple and ordinary domestic life, nothing exciting at all, and yet it appealed so much to Natalia, who had never been able to enjoy a quiet life with a loving family.

At a too young age of just a couple of months, she was taken in by the Russian agency KGB; she never knew who her parents were or what happened to them. She was trained to assassinate, lie and cheat; a rotten spy through and through. And here she was, at the tender age of 15, nicknamed the Black Widow due to her extraordinary fighting and killing skills, about to stroll into another mission and do what she did best.

The tiny communication device suddenly buzzed into life. "Natalia, are you at the location?" A thickly Russian accented voice said through the earpiece. "Yes I am. Will you tell me what it was I sent to extract?" She responded. She had been sent to China to retrieve a very important object that was apparently above her clearance level, however she was the agent most fit for the mission.

"You'll know it when you see it." The man finished cryptically as the earpiece turned off.

Natalia set off from her cover and into the small, quaint village. She snuck carefully through, between all the houses, careful to hide herself. Though the night would've been dark, the aurora, stars and moon bathed the village in ice cold blue light, making her visible. Her dark suit helped hiding her a lot, but her very pale complexion and bright red hair made it easy to spot her. She did not wish to disturb the peace of this place.

All the dirt roads lead to the center of the village at the small stone well; from there she found what she was searching for, a medium to large sized house made out of wood planks and oak logs supporting the structure, leaves of green vine and ivy crawling up its side, clutching on as if their life depended on it.

Her small body allowed her fingers and feet into small crevices and holes in and between the planks, so she could easily crawl up the wall like a spider. From one of the open higher windows she slipped into what looked like a nursery. The walls colored a bright and happy sky-blue color, a large carpet depicting beautiful white fractal shapes spread across a deep blue backdrop.

Small miscellaneous toys littered the floor, firetrucks, dolls, everything a child could imagine. Moonlight came in from the window, lighting up the tiny dust motes hovering happily about. A few feet away from Natalia there were a small white crib with a blue bundle, above it a crib mobile that showcased stars, moons, galaxies and other space bodies. She tiptoed across the room to the crib and bent over it. In it was a little baby, in content sleep.

However, it unexplainably woke up, its big brown eyes staring up into Natalia's green ones, and started wailing loudly enough for the whole village to wake up. Natalia's mission orders was to kill anyone who would get in her way, but though she was a seemingly emotionless assassin, something deep inside her told her that she could not just take the life of someone so young.

"Shhh, shhh!" she tried with the baby, but it would not stop. She glanced around the room, scanning for anything that might help to quiet the crying child. On the ground she saw a little green toy dinosaur with a big smile; she picked it up and held it over the baby, playing and acting a bit around with it.

"Rawr! If you don't stay silent, I am gonna eat youuu!" she said for the dinosaur in the warmest voice she could fake. The baby at first flinched, but then she laughed, and Natalia decided that the sound of the baby's bubbling laughter was the cutest thing she had ever heard.

Natalia suddenly remembered an old lullaby her caretaker had sung to her growing up in the KGB. It was the only thing that was able to calm her down and have her fall asleep. The baby had to fall asleep if she was to carry out her mission with minimal impact on the life of these villagers. So she sung.

" _ **Lozhkoj sneg meshaja,**_

_**Noch' idjot bol'shaja.** _

_**Chto zhe ty, glupyshka,** _

_**Ne spish'?** _

 

_**Spjat tvoi sosedi** _

_**Belye medvedi,** _

_**Spi skorej i ty,** _

_**Malysh.** _

 

_**My plyvjom na l'dine,** _

_**Kak na brigantine** _

_**Po sedym, surovym** _

_**Morjam.** _

 

_**I vsju noch' sosedi,** _

_**Zvjozdnye medvedi** _

_**Svetjat dal'nim** _

_**Korabljam."** _

And it seemed that this time, Natalia's voice carried genuine warmth and caring. The little child cooed, obviously not understanding anything Natalia had sung, but still blubbering excitedly. It reached out with its chubby little hand to touch Natalia's hair, and she could not do anything but flash the child a big smile as it fell into slumber once again.

"Daisy? Are you alright?" a Chinese female voice called from outside. The door to the little nursery opened, and what followed were a loud bang and the thud of a light corpse falling to the ground.

Natalia had acted on instinct, her cover was about to be blown, she had to finish her mission. Of course, her cover now would be blown regardless, considering how everyone within five kilometres radius would've heard that gun shot. The baby had woken up and started wailing again. She turned on her earpiece to make contact.

"Vlad, I've been made, tell me what I need to retrieve so I can get out of here as soon as possible."

She almost didn't finish that sentence since another person stepped into the room, this time an American male, he didn't even have time to react before the deadly Black Widow pulled the trigger once again.

"Vlad!" She practically screamed, guilt had gnawed deep into the usually cold and detached Black Widow, who felt sorry. Not necessarily for the parents, she had loads of adults in her ledger, the guilt was killing her because she knew she was letting this baby live without its parents, something she did not wish on anyone after experiencing it first-hand.

"It's the child." She heard through her earpiece.

…

"What?" She responded, confused.

"It's the child Romanova; your mission is to retrieve that child and bring it back to HQ. Hurry up and get out of that place. Shield is coming." He answered cryptically before the connection cut off.

"What does that even mean?" she spoke to herself quietly. Nevertheless, she made her way towards the crib, uttering a small ow as she felt something under her foot, the little dinosaur toy. She decided to grab the toy and take it with her, as it would most likely prove efficient at quieting the baby.

She climbed out the window and got her feet down on the ground again, this time with the little bundle near her chest, still crying her eyes out at the loss of her parents.

"Shh, shh, little _mishka_." Natalia hummed the melody from the lullaby she had sung to the child earlier. The child once again cooed at laid itself closer to Natalia's chest. The calming effect was just in time; because as soon as she had reached the outskirts of the village, all hell broke loose.

Villagers had come out to investigate the gunshots, but there was someone else. Men and women in dark combat vests, armed with assault rifles and other heavy weapons. Their flashlights went twirled around each other in what seemed like a ballet dance, going around the whole village. They immediately opened fire on any villagers they saw, no mercy for man, woman or child. Natalia pondered if it was this Shield thing Vlad was talking about.

She snuck away with the child, while the whole village fell victim to these attackers; she made it away in all the confusion. The village was far behind her when her earpiece hissed again.

"Natalia, come back to HQ, you hear me? Go back to your plane and fly back here, you must return quickly." Vlad slurred, apparently quite drunk, through the communication device. Natalia did not dignify him with a response, and the earpiece died once again.

She instead looked down at the bundle in her arms, how the child had fallen asleep was a mystery to her, especially with all the commotion that had been around them. Something from inside Natalia stirred, life, emotion, compassion, all of these things that made a man human was going through the previously blank Black Widow.

She herself knew what it was like to grow up without anyone who loved you, no friends or anything, the only reason she grew up was to become a weapon of the KGB. There was something eerily reminiscent of the events that had befallen her that were now happening to this child. Kidnapped and her parents cold bloodedly murdered.

It was something different; she had murdered many people in her short life, but knowingly taking the life of two loving parents, and deprive this child of anything that may seem like an ordinary upbringing? It brought tears to her eyes.

She sniffled quietly, the train of feelings too overwhelming to keep her composure. Something clicked inside her head; she could not allow the KGB to ruin another life, not when she could stand between them and this child. She grabbed the communication device in her ear, pulled it out and crushed it in her fingers. Her mind was made up now, she was going to make for an escape, and leave the life in the KGB behind.

Natalia continued on, child clutched closer to her chest, keeping a warring eye on the surrounding trees, bushes, rocks, anything that anyone could hide behind and surprise attack her from. She was not going to let slip this chance of granting a child she had crossed a normal life.

She finally reached her plane that had been landed some distance away from the village. The KGB had equipped her with it to reach China fast. It still had a decent amount of fuel left, at least enough to make it far away. She settled down in the pilot's seat and got in front of an in-built computer first. If she was to make it far away from KGB, she would have to first make it far away from her motherland. She erased every trace of her; any files on her were to be deleted. She was a reasonably good hacker, having been taught by computer genius Vladimir Krushniv, one of her mentors in the KGB.

And so she sat back in front of the cockpit, taking the plane into air. She knew exactly where any part of the Russian government could not touch her, the arch-enemy of her country, nicknamed the land of the free. She just hoped life in the United States of America would be easy on her and the child.

Directly in front of her, the sun rose up from the east, the light from the stars and the moon dulled to make way for the strong burst of light that poured into the plane, illuminated the ocean and coloured the sky a beautiful red. In the face of this beauty, the child woke up, and its little hand reached up to touch Natalia's chin.

"Daisy, wasn't it? We should get you and me new names. What do you want to be called?" She asked, jokingly at first, but then the child pointed to the red skies in front of them. It uttered some sounds, although largely unintelligible, it conspicuously sounded like it was trying to say "sky".

"Sky? You like the sky? Sky, sky, sky… What about Skye? Pretty name, isn't it? Yeah, you and me, little _mishka_. Natasha and Skye against the world."

And the baby giggled at Natasha to show her approval.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> English is not my first language, in fact it is my third. I don't perceive myself to be a very good writer either, as writing stories is a little side hobby for me. I hope I did not make too many mistakes, be it grammar or otherwise! If I did make some mistakes feel very free to inform me! It may be just a hobby, but that doesn't mean I don't want to improve :)
> 
> Also as the tag says, there are no pairings yet. I'm not sure what I want to do, so feel free to comment what pairings you want and I'll see what people want.
> 
> Don't worry about the Russian parts, I'll translate (as well as I can).  
> "Mishka" - bear cub
> 
> The russian lullaby (sort of) translates to:
> 
> Stirring the snow with a spoon,  
> The great night is coming.  
> Why aren't you, silly,  
> Sleeping yet?  
> Your neighbors are asleep,  
> The polar bears,  
> Hurry up and go to sleep,  
> Baby.  
> We're swimming on the block of ice,  
> As though it's a brigantine,  
> On the grey, harsh  
> Seas.  
> And all night, the neighbors,  
> The star-bears  
> Are shining to the distant  
> Ships.  
> Not 100% sure that's the correct translation, but it's something along those lines, it was also one of the only translations I could find. If you want to listen to what the lullaby sounds like, you can search "Колыбельная Медведицы" on youtube.
> 
> Until next time!


	2. Chapter 2

For several hours the plane kept flying across the crystal blue Pacific Ocean, the time had been slow and quiet, no skies, no storm, no ships, only the blue hue of the sea meeting the blue hue of the sky in the distant horizon, converging together into a bright white line, Natasha had once been told that the Vikings believed that this point where sea and sky met was called the Midgard worm.

As fascinating as it was to sit in the pilot seat, staring at the fabled worm and pondering over what other nonsense the old northern brutes believed in, she had other things to take care of. The child sleeping peacefully in her arms was bound to wake up crying even more than before.

* * *

 

**Earlier**

Natasha sat in the seat, enjoying the view of the water in front of her, and relishing in the thought that she was leaving a worse life behind. But it seemed that those thoughts had to be cut short, because the toddler suddenly started whining loudly enough to break the windshield of the plane.

"Oh no, no, no, no. What's wrong, Skye?"

Skye lifted her chubby arm, and lightly slapped herself on the mouth whilst still crying; she did this a few times as if to indicate want of something.

"Food? You want food, Skye? …What do babies eat?"

Natasha rid herself of the sweat beads that had formed on her brow. She never had a mother or a father herself; however would she know what to do in situations like these? Situations that may seem as mundane as a hungry child, but what if she fed the baby something wrong, something she may have allergies towards, or worse; what if she choked on her food?

She set the small plane to temporary auto-pilot and went in the back for some food. In there, she found some "Individual Food Ration" (more commonly known as an IRP) packets, which she brought back to Skye at the cockpit. She opened it and inside the packet there were some different kinds of prepackaged food, some crackers and toffee, but more importantly: there was a small pack of strawberry jam. She could see that Skye had some teeth, but they did not look nearly strong enough for the prepackaged, dry food there was in the IRP, so the jam would be perfect.

It was a couple of days away from going bad, according to the date written on the underside, and Natasha counted her lucky stars, if Skye continued wailing because of hunger she would positively turn insane enough that an asylum wouldn't even want to keep her.

"Here you go Skye, I brought you some jam." Natasha opened the small pack and with a plastic spoon the IRP had supplied, she attempted to guide the jam into Skye's small mouth, however Skye instantly closed her mouth and shook her head in declination.

"What? You don't like jam? We don't have anything else." Skye kept on shaking her head, eventually pointing her stubby finger to one of the small bottles that were in the IRP. "Water? You're thirsty?" Natasha took out the small bottle and opened it, but once it reached close enough for Skye to register what it was, she vehemently shook her head again.

Natasha was slowly growing tired of the stubborn, petulant child she was burdened with; it shamed her to admit that the child was already slowly getting on her nerves. To her defense, she had never been a people-person, and now she suddenly had to raise a person on her own? It was definitely going to be the longest, hardest mission the fabled Black Widow would ever have.

Natasha however was not against admitting her own flaws; she knew that of all the people on this earth, she was the one least fit for being a parent, at the young age of 15, no less. The honor and privilege of being a great parent lay with the well-off married couples who had prepared for a long time, or at least that is what Natasha thinks. All she hoped was that she at least could make Skye's life bearable, at the _very_ least.

"You don't want water? What do babies drink? …Milk? We don't have any milk."

And predictably, it ended with Skye trying to tear Natasha's eardrums into a million pieces. Natasha lifted Skye up and held her in her arms; there was no milk for the little toddler. If Natasha did not get some quiet soon, she would rip off all of her pretty red hair.

Natasha took out the little dinosaur toy she had grabbed from China and held it above Skye's head "Look Skye! It's your little dinosaur friend. If you don't quiet down, he'll be very angry." She tried, but it had no effect. She picked up Skye and rocked her slowly in her arms, trying with the lullaby of hers, again no effect.

She put Skye down again and went looking in the back for anything else for that baby, or even better, something to put her to sleep again. Natasha's eye caught sight of a first aid kit. She opened it and found the syringe filled with the green liquid.

* * *

 

And that was how Natasha had sedated the little baby Skye to put her to sleep, and now she feared that the child would wake up and scream even louder than before. As a child, she absolutely detested syringes of any kind, and she expected that Skye would be the same, possibly even worse considering babies were very sensitive creatures.

However she did not have time to worry about that anymore. In front of her, the endless ocean suddenly ended, it made way for large, snow-capped peaks that rose like spires from the once flat horizon. The whole mountains made their way into the picturesque view, and eventually skyscrapers from the stunning city of Los Angeles.

Natasha maneuvered the plane down to the ground, nearby the city but not close enough to attract unwanted attention. She had some money given to her by the KGB, about 3000 rubles; she would have to find out how much that was in US dollars at a bank or something alike.

The first things she would naturally have to worry about were the most basic of needs: food, water and a place to stay. She would have to start stealing from some people to quickly get her and Skye up on their feet, afterwards when they're somewhat financially secure, she could try for a more regular job or other kinds of work.

Natasha was the Black Widow, master assassin, thief and liar; it didn't take her too long to have a couple of wallets taken right out of other people's pockets, even if she had Skye in her arms. There were of course moral objections to stealing from innocent people, but she justified it with the fact that she was now a lone, young parent who was in desperate need of money.

She went from the streets into a dark, dank alleyway sandwiched between two apartment buildings, rats and stray cats scurried away into the darkness as she approached. She squatted down to be able to set Skye down on her strong legs so she could count the money. 2300 dollars in total, that should feed and put Skye and her in a safe home for some time, at least long enough for her to get a proper job.

"You shouldn't be in an alleyway all alone, little missy." She heard a raspy and tired voice from behind her. She put Skye down on the ground, very careful to not let the blankets and such get too dirty, and she turned around to look at the assailant. He was wearing loose clothes soiled with dirt and mud. He looked like a young person who had aged 30 years in the span of one night, by the looks of all the wrinkles in his head, the sunken cheeks and bags under his eyes. In his hand was a tiny dirk, old and rusty, parts of the blade's edge had chipped off, but it was not stained with blood of any kind.

Natasha knew how to deal with these types, she wouldn't kill him or do anything horrible to him, the world was already unfair towards him, but that didn't stop her from threatening him with spite dripping in her voice in a vain attempt to make him flee before it would have to get physical.

"I would back off if I was you if you value your ability to have children." She sneered. The man chuckled, but broke it off with a hoarse cough. "I'm not afraid of empty threats." He said, and ended the conversation with a charge at Natasha, his little dirk pointing right ahead at her.

Natasha was however still unfazed, she had dealt with these types before. As he got dangerously close, all she had to do was step to the side and hold her foot out, the thief immediately fell face first to the ground. She pulled him up by his lapels and held him in the air for a moment.

"I'm going to let you go, but if I ever see you try to steal from anyone again, I'll make damn sure you won't have a tongue to speak with, got that clear?"

The thief nodded his head in fear; she threw him away and picked Skye up from the ground again, and then took off from the alley.

* * *

 

After a couple of hours, she finally found a suitable motel for her and Skye to stay in. It was small and grubby, but not terrible and cheap enough for them to stay for a reasonable amount of time. In all the commotion of stealing and fighting, Skye had miraculously managed to still stay asleep, which was good for Natasha. She left Skye sleeping at the motel, hoping for the best while she would go out and buy necessities.

She went to a bank and had her rubles exchanged for dollars, the 3000 rubles made for 500 dollars, so she had 2800 dollars in total. She went to a baby shop where she bought a small, portable folding crib, a pram and other requirements a baby would have. Then she went on to a tiny and quaint library where she bought a few books on parenting and how to take care of children, and even a few cook books (if she was going to be a parent, why not just go the whole way?). She went back and forth from the motel, as she could not have everything in hand, and she had to check that Skye was still asleep.

Her final destination was a supermarket where she would buy some food, drink and maybe some toys for Skye. On her way to the supermarket, she had taken a look in the books she had brought with her, specifically about feeding. She now knew that babies liked warm milk, but it had to be of a special formula kind, and though her tiny teeth were not very strong, things like pureed food or fruit cut into small in line at the cashier, she saw a small, 6 year old boy in front of her with a toy car in his hands. He had the face of a happy child, large and puffy cheeks, small green eyes and rich brown hair. His clothes however looked old and used, and though he looked happy, Natasha could not shake off the feeling that there was something sad about this kid.

"James you know we can't afford too much right now, what with your father and I not having jobs, paying for food is hard enough." The mother told him, as they apparently were already in financial problems. Natasha however relented into her newly-gained emotions, and got down on her knees and put five dollars of the 500 she had gotten from the rubles (it would give her a bad conscience if she gave him stolen money), however she kept a mask of indifference and apathy on her face, careful not to let anyone notice, and hope she wouldn't slip.

What had that baby Skye done to her? She would've never helped anyone before being laden with the toddler. Was Skye really breaking through the hard, metal shell Natasha had built around her? Natasha, growing up as an assassin, was taught to never have any weakness, always be strong; but now it seemed she had one weakness in her life that she could not bring herself to get rid of.

The parents and child thanked Natasha; she still kept her mouth in one straight line as she boredly uttered a "no problem".

She was outside the motel, finally arriving to her new home, and she looked out at the bright orange sun, settling down, slowly slinking down behind the curved horizon. The sky, ever so bright and happy, smiled at her.

She went inside to find Skye had woken up, but had not done it in any kind of uproar. She was quietly lying in the bed, playing around with the toy dinosaur in hand. When she saw Natasha, she cooed lovingly at the sight of her new guardian. Natasha brought out a package and opened it up to see the little formula milk machine, with the plastic bottle embedded in the middle. She plugged it in and inserted the formula powder at the top, after a couple of minutes it dispensed the warm white liquid into the little bottle. She picked up Skye from the bed and settled the toddler on her lap. Skye laughed slightly, but immediately went silent when the little bottle greeted her mouth and the milk flowed in, her eyes instantaneously went droopy and she leaned in to Natasha's breast.

After giving Skye the milk, Natasha brought out a pack of pureed fruit to feed Skye with. "Here comes the An-12 transport plane with an important package!" Natasha sang as she made buzzing sounds with her mouth meant to imitate an airplane. Skye giggled and then ate the fruit mash, obviously hungry after going with no food for some time. After eating for a bit, she was sufficiently fed, however Natasha had forgotten to bring food for herself, but it didn't matter, she had gone without food for many days on some of her missions, this was nothing.

Natasha unpacked some of the toys she had brought and she played with Skye for some time. Flew the little plastic airplane above her head while making whizzing sounds and Skye happily chuckling at the silliness of it, they played with some dolls, and Natasha even set up a little theatrical play with a doll of a little girl and a bear, retelling her favorite children's' story about the little girl Masha and the bear in the woods.

After a bit of playing around, Natasha was even more too tired to set up the crib for Skye, so she just pulled her into bed and held her close to her chest, Skye was immediately calmed by the sound of a steady heartbeat.

" ** _Lozhkoj sneg meshaja,_**

**_Noch' idjot bol'shaja._ **

**_Chto zhe ty, glupyshka,_ **

**_Ne spish'?"_ **

Natasha sung the lullaby for Skye again, and when she had finished Skye had lulled into peaceful sleep. Natasha held her a bit tighter, and too fell asleep with one last sentence.

"Good night, little _mishka._ "

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT: I went back and fixed some stuff in the earlier chapter, the most glaring issue was that Skye hadn't actually been fed in the original chapter, I have fixed that now.  
> I also should probably tell that in the story, the year is currently 1997, Natasha is 15 and Skye is 1. I'm keeping a very hard track of the timeline, as I'm trying to keep it fixed against the actual MCU timeline without too much age changing or pushing events around.

Natasha woke up to a terrible smell that had not penetrated her nostrils since that one mission in southern Siberia with one of her colleagues. It immediately woke her up, outside she could see that the sun had only risen up, streets empty and damp after a rainy night, grass glinting with morning dew. All of this beauty, but she could not enjoy it while some smell made her want to cut her nose off.

The culprit was Skye, she could smell the stink radiating off of her. She held her sleeping figure up in her hands and instantaneously knew that she needed to have her diaper changed. Natasha put Skye down and practically ran for one of her parent-guidebooks; she had no idea how to go around those things. She knew how to disarm explosives large enough to blow a whole village into another age, but changing diapers was completely foreign to her.

So she treated it like something she was more comfortable with. She put Skye up on a table and treated her like she was a nuclear bomb about to go off. Skye had woken up, but was completely silent, as if she could feel the tension resonating from within Natasha.

Natasha’s face was completely rigid as she went through with the procedure, sweat forming on her brow, but she did not dare wipe in fear she accidentally left feces on her forehead (even if her fingers had not touched the brown substance at all), after a couple of minutes she had dumped the old diaper and replaced it with a new one from a large pack she had bought the day earlier.

She breathed out in relief. At least she somewhat knew what to do now. She hoisted Skye up and held her. Skye was fed, had slept and was now changed. However that wouldn’t continue on for a long time if Natasha continued spending money and now having any income. She needed a job.

* * *

 

The inside of this small library Natasha had entered was not nearly as pleasant looking as the outside. The outside had been covered in a beautiful hardwood façade, painted with a royal blue finish. The windows were large and prestigious, and the wooden double-doors were made of gorgeous mahogany. However the inside gave a new meaning to the saying “Don’t judge a book on its cover”.

Old run-down gray concrete was basically the whole of the walls, floor and ceiling, with the occasional cheap, itchy rug to cover, where she was fairly sure that each rug was home to a cockroach micro nation. The books all looked old and worn, like they had been picked up a million times but never actually read, and there seemed to be completely void of people.

The library had a sign outside saying that they needed an extra librarian, and Natasha had worked in places that were far more disgusting when she was undercover, she could not say no to money when she so desperately needed it.

She went upfront to the main desk. “Hello, I hear you’re searching for employees?”

The middle-aged fat woman sitting at the desk sported many wrinkles and blemishes on her gray, dead skin, as well as one wart that seemed to be larger than baby Skye’s eye on her upper chin, and greasy light gray brown hair. She put down the large burger she was eating, opened her mouth and spoke out with a wet lisp that suddenly made Skye’s wailing bearable, even favorable to Natasha.

“I’m not sure what cha mean; we don’t needs no more employees here.” She said, and followed it up with a whisper under her breath “and certainly not no doe-eyed kid.”

“Excuse me?” Natasha followed up, who had in fact been wearing a completely impassive mask throughout the conversation, until now when her nose scrunched up in obvious disgust that she had held back.

“’Scuse you indeed.” The woman countered snidely, before returning to her burger.

Natasha lifted her arms slightly up, to hoist her bag higher. She calculated the exact trajectory turned around on her heels at just the right speed to have her bag slam into the burger and mash it up across the lady’s face.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Natasha sniggered as she exited the revolting library.

* * *

 

She tried her luck at a little bakery on a street corner. The lady who owned the bakery was in her late twenties, quite small with medium long golden blonde hair set up in a French braid that hung down her back, and a happy round face with green eyes to match. She was a very nice lady, and very kind towards Natasha.

However, that constant stream of kindness could not be upheld what with Natasha being completely unable to bake anything without screwing something up. The pastry she made was dry and so crusty it broke at the slightest touch, the muffins somehow exploded inside the oven, leading to a very sticky mess that rendered the oven useless for the time being.

“I am so sorry Natasha.” The owner, Charlotte, said with sadness clear in her voice. “But I’m afraid that your, um, qualifications don’t apply to this job.” She tried to say as mildly as possible, afraid of hurting Natasha’s feelings.

“Nah Charlotte, I’m sorry, I can’t bake for shit.” Natasha said completely bluntly, blank on the outside but slightly sad on the inside, she desperately needed a well-paying job… and she had taken a liking to Charlotte, who had a motherly atmosphere wherever she went.

The harsh sentence Natasha had uttered made Charlotte flinch slightly. Natasha gave back the apron Charlotte had given her and went out.

“But you’re always welcome if you need bread or cake or something else I can bake!” Charlotte said as Natasha went away.

* * *

 

In the end, after many trials, Natasha found a place at a small diner.

It was a charming little place, set at a street corner like the bakery. The walls glowed; reflecting the bright beige light coming from the sun, giving the café a warm and welcoming atmosphere that could suck anyone in, it even had a small effect on the normally cold Natasha.

The floor was black and white checker-patterned, polished enough that Natasha could see her reflection, the booths had the standard metal tables with the hard-looking yet extremely comfortable leather coated seats, adorning a turquoise blue.

Natasha herself wore a blue waitress dress that went down just below her knees, also in turquoise blue, as well as a white small apron fastened just above her waist and went down to the middle of her thighs and a white little hat.

Her employer, Michael, owned this solitary diner named “The Cornerstone” together with his daughter, Leila, who was another waitress at the diner, Betty their cook, and them some other employees who were currently on their off hours.

So far Natasha hadn’t screwed up; in fact she did a pretty good job servicing the customers. The job wasn’t more than a five minute walk away from her motel, it paid well enough to support her and Skye, or well Skye would be well supported as long as Natasha would be willing to forego some of her own needs and wants.

A loud ding sounded as the door swung and let in two customers, a middle-aged man who looked slightly tired and was holding a handkerchief to his right eye, and a cheerier middle-aged woman of obvious Asian descent, judging by looks. They settled down at a remote booth at an emptier part of the diner, and started talking.

They were talking; the man was leaning a bit back, trying to evidently be relaxed after whatever pain caused him an eye injury; however his mouth was unmistakably being forced down into an impassive line, as if he was holding back a smile in a vain attempt to look serious.

On the contrary, the woman was talking animatedly, leaning forward while moving her hands around vividly to add extra denotation to her words. Natasha went over to them to take their orders.

“… Don’t want to end up one-eyed like Fury.” The man said, to which the woman responded “We’re SHIELD agents, Phil, injuries is just something that can happen”

And in that moment, time stopped.

Natasha should have known that SHIELD would be here in some form in the United States, she just did not expect her to run into them so soon. It scared her; she had seen the brutality the SHIELD agents had exerted in the little Chinese village.

It seemed that there was no place to hide for her, either the KGB or SHIELD would be nearby at all times, but as the memories of what the KGB had done to her and what they would have done to Skye flooded her mind, she chose to give SHIELD the benefit of the doubt and hope that she and Skye could just stay out of their sight.

“Can I take your orders?” Natasha said nonchalantly, not a single drop of sweat or crease in her skin giving way to her inner nervousness at this encounter. Any other woman may have buckled under to anxiety and given out clear signs, but Natasha was a well-trained liar after all.

After taking their orders and handing them over to Betty, Mike came out to tell her that today’s shift was over for her, and that she could go home. Perhaps some time with Skye would lighten the mood after an intense day of trying to be a normal person.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not too bad, is it? Every time I write I get the feeling that I could've done much better, it always makes me feel like I'm giving the readers way too little.


End file.
